The Great Day of Joy and Our Response
The preacher opens the homily by proclaiming the present day of the resurrection as a day of joy, freedom, and salvation, and then calls the congregation to respond with gratitude, worship, and moral purification.
This present day is bright and great and wonderful, a day truly of joy and gladness, of rest and spiritual delight and exultation, a day of freedom and illumination and sanctification, a day of reconciliation and peace and salvation and help for our souls. On this day Christ raised us up when we had been cast down by sin. On this day he made us alive when we were dead through our trespasses. On this day he opened paradise for us, which the disobedience and transgression of our forebears had closed. On this day he counted us worthy to partake of his precious and life-giving body and blood, through which we are cleansed and illumined and sanctified. For Christ gave himself as a ransom for us, and he brought us out of death into life, from darkness into light, from slavery into freedom, from enmity into genuine friendship. He redeemed us from the curse and from sin by becoming a curse for us, so that we might receive adoption, so that we might no longer be slaves but free, no longer subject to passion but free from passion, no longer lovers of the world but lovers of God, no longer walking according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:4). He sanctified us and glorified us in the Holy Spirit, so that we might walk in newness of life. What shall we give back to the Lord for all that he has given back to us? What shall we give back for the surpassing gift and grace of God (Psalm 115:12 LXX; Psalm 116:12 Hebrew)? Let us give thanks and worship and offer him perfumes and hymns as gifts with fear and reverence and humility. For the Master is loving and compassionate, and he accepts everything we bring to him, even if what we offer is small and worthless. Let us love, my brothers and sisters, the Lord who loved us by grace. Let us die for the one who died for us freely. Let us walk after his holy commandments. Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1). Let us offer to our God good deeds: faith, love, hope, endurance, contrition of heart, tears of compunction, purity of conscience, the putting to death of every sin and evil desire. Let us serve the Lord with understanding and steadfastness and perseverance. Let us embrace the love of the true God and our Savior. Let us sing to him a new song; let us all sing. Let us clap our hands as in the psalms and shout to God with a voice of exultation, for the Lord most high is awesome, a great king over all the earth (Psalm 46:3 LXX; Psalm 47:2 Hebrew).
Greek
Oratio in resurrectionem domini Λαμπρὰ καὶ μεγάλη καὶ θαυμαστὴ ἡ παροῦσα ἡμέρα, καὶ χαρᾶς ὄντως καὶ
εὐφροσύνης ἡμέρα καὶ ἀνέσεως καὶ θυμηδίας πνευματικῆς καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεως, ἡμέρα ἐλευθερίας καὶ φωτισμοῦ καὶ ἁγιασμοῦ, ἡμέρα καταλλαγῆς καὶ εἰρήνης καὶ σωτηρίας καὶ βοηθείας τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν. ἐν ταύτῃ συνήγειρεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐρριμμένους τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἐν ταύτῃ συνεζωοποίησε νενεκρωμένους τοῖς παραπτώμασιν, ἐν ταύτῃ τὸν παράδεισον ἀνέῳξεν ἡμῖν ὃν ἔκλεισεν ἡ τῶν προπατόρων ἡμῶν παρακοὴ καὶ παράβασις, ἐν ταύτῃ τοῦ τιμίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ αὐτοῦ σώματός τε καὶ αἵματος ἀπολαύειν ἡμᾶς ἠξίωσε, δι' ὧν καθαιρόμεθα καὶ φωτιζόμεθα καὶ ἁγιαζόμεθα· λύτρον γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὁ Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, καὶ προήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωήν, ἀπὸ σκότους εἰς φῶς, ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας εἰς ἐλευθερίαν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἔχθρας εἰς γνησιεύουσαν φιλίαν· «ἐξηγόρασεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς κατάρας « καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας «γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα « ἵνα τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν, ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν δοῦλοι ἀλλ' ἐλεύθεροι, μηκέτι ἐμπαθεῖς ἀλλ' ἀπαθεῖς, μηκέτι φιλόκοσμοι ἀλλὰ φιλόθεοι, μηκέτι «κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦντες ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα «· ἡγίασεν καὶ ἐδόξασεν ἡμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ «ἵνα ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν «. «τί ἀνταποδώσομεν τῷ κυρίῳ περὶ πάντων ὧν ἡμῖν ἀνταπέδωκε «, τί ἀνταποδώσομεν τῇ ὑπερβαλλούσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ δωρεᾷ τε καὶ χάριτι; εὐχαριστήσωμεν καὶ προσκυνήσωμεν καὶ προσενέγκωμεν αὐτῷ τὰ μῦρα καὶ τοὺς ὕμνους ὡς δῶρα μετὰ φόβου καὶ εὐλαβείας καὶ ταπεινώσεως· φιλάνθρωπος γάρ ἐστι καὶ συμπαθὴς ὁ δεσπότης, καὶ πάντα προσδέχεται εἰ καὶ μικρά εἰσι καὶ εὐτελῆ τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν αὐτῷ προσαγόμενα. ἀγαπήσωμεν, ἀδελφοί μου, τὸν ἀγαπήσαντα κύριον κατὰ χάριν ἡμᾶς, ἀποθάνωμεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν δωρεάν, 2 πορευθῶμεν ὀπίσω τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ ἐντολῶν, «καθαρίσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ παντὸς μολυσμοῦ σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος «, προσάξωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν πράξεις ἀγαθάς, πίστιν, ἀγάπην, ἐλπίδα, ὑπομονήν, συντριμμὸν καρδίας, κατανύξεως δάκρυα, συνειδήσεως κάθαρσιν, νέκρωσιν πάσης ἁμαρτίας καὶ ἐπιθυμίας κακῆς· δουλεύσωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ μετὰ συνέσεως καὶ καρτερίας καὶ ἐπιμονῆς, ἐνστερνισώμεθα τὸ φίλτρον τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, ᾄσωμεν αὐτῷ ᾆσμα καινόν, πάντες ᾄσωμεν, κροτήσωμεν ψαλμικῶς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ ἀλαλάξωμεν τῷ θεῷ ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως ὅτι «κύριος ὕψιστος φοβερὸς βασιλεὺς ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν «.